Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League hopes hang by a thread after a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday left Luis Enrique’s men mired in a knockout battle with only three games to finish the league phase. Kim Min-jae’s first-half header was enough to beat the Ligue 1 giants at the Allianz Arena despite Ousmane Dembélé’s second-half sending off and was perhaps a tough result for Les Parisiens given their performance .
However, playing well without goals and therefore without points to prove, continues to be PSG’s recurring theme in the UCL in recent seasons and now the situation is possibly more critical than ever. Matvey Safonov was preferred to Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal and started with a brilliant save to deny Jamal Musiala as part of a strong overall performance, apart from a brutal error of judgment which cost the visitors dearly when Bayern scored .
Ousmane Dembélé will greatly regret being sent off for a rash tackle when he was already booked, but perhaps the mistake was the first booking for dissent rather than the second, which would normally have been a booking for a foul on Alphonso Davies. Warren Zaire-Emery will probably feel more guilty given that he squandered a glorious chance to go 1-0 up when he shot wide when well positioned, but he also underlined his main problem: they no longer score goals, home or away. away games.
“It’s hard to talk,” Vitinha said after the game. “We gave everything. We had the impression that without the red card it would have been different. With the red card it was hard physically. Bayern had one more man and it was much harder. The first half was tense between the two. The teams created more chances, but they only scored in a corner. I maintain that we have a very good team. We can play and beat the best. Unfortunately, we have not had luck in this Champions League. We have three games left and we have to win all three. “
Luis Enrique continues to see the same performances in which his team creates opportunities, does not take advantage of them and then is punished and so far the warnings have not been heeded taking into account the defeats of Arsenal and Atlético de Madrid, as well as the draw of PSV Eindhoven. Gonçalo Ramos’ return to the field will be a huge boost and getting him up to speed before the trip to face Red Bull Salzburg will be absolutely crucial, but it may have gone unnoticed that PSG have conceded twice as many goals as they have scored.
The absences of Lucas Hernandez and Presnel Kimpembe have arguably been as detrimental as Ramos’s and there is no guarantee either of them will be fit enough to play in Austria just before the final home game against Manchester City. There is now a very real possibility that PSG could play for their Champions League hopes on the final day against VfB Stuttgart and that is not a scenario that many saw coming after last year’s semi-finals, but it is the result to end capriciously against at least PSV and Atleti.
Certain aspects of Bayern’s performance can be considered positive, but the bottom line is simple and that is that the Germans did what Paris couldn’t do and scored, no matter how hard they are on Safonov, who was more than a solid replacement for Bayern. Error-prone Donnarumma. Even erasing Kim’s goal would have only been good for a point, which they certainly would have gotten while trailing by a goal and a man and probably would have even been received positively, but that is not the situation now.
Realistically, PSG need to avoid defeat in their last three games and win two of them to start having confidence in advancing to the knockout stage and it is not an exact science given that it is the first year of this new format. With City one of those three games remaining and two more away from home, which has not been kind to the French capital team of late, there is no margin for error and no safety net: failing to finish in the top 24 means Europe no longer exists since the end of January and looks increasingly likely after this result.
